Wagner Matinee Essay

Throughout the 1800’s there was clearly an increase in migration to the Wonderful Plains due to an abundance of totally free land provided by the Homestead Act. Many people and households went west to seek their particular fortune and a residence on the fact that was once called the truly great American desert. Moving westward was a difficult process, and several were required to leave their very own old lives behind entirely.

In “A Wagner Matinee, ” authored by Willa Cather, the characterization of Aunt Georgiana, a lady who leaves Boston to elope which has a young man heading west, is utilized to illustrate the idea; that occasionally decisions must be made, and although 1 might be sorry, one love must be sacrificed for another. One way that Cather uses portrayal to demonstrate this theme is through direct statements about Georgiana and physical descriptions. Straight away Cather lets us know that Georgiana is, or perhaps was, a pianist of some achievement. She once worked while an instructor in the Boston Out house of Music. For a female to achieve this position in the time “A Wagner Matinee” is defined was an exceptional thing.

The background music she made a decision to give up was surely anything she cherished very very much and was very happy with. The physical description of Aunt Georgiana shows the hardships the girl had to withstand because of her sacrifice. The narrator in the story, Georgiana’s nephew Clark simon, describes her as having yellow and leathery pores and skin, and wearing ill-fitting false teeth. These physical defects were the result of a pitiless blowing wind and the alkaline water, together with other hardships of the Nebraska frontier.

The most gnawing at description of Aunt Georgiana is the repeated image of her hands. She was once a great pianist, but from focus on the plantation in Nebraska, her hands have been decreased to twisted knots of flesh, with oddly twisted, tentacle-like fingertips. This information best demonstrates her sacrifice, as her hands had been the most vital thing with her musical fact, and Cather does well to convey this through the repeated imagery.

Georgiana’s statements over the novel also support the theme of regret and sacrifice. Clark recalls a time once Georgiana starts her spirit to him, and says “Don’t like it so well Clark simon, or it can be taken from you. Oh!

Dear boy, hope that whatever your sacrifice whether it is is not that. ” By saying this the girl with referring to, of course music. Her advice never to “love this so well” is intensely pessimistic, affected by the superb pain she suffered once she gave up her existence ambition. Later in the just conversation that Clark and Georgiana reveal at the live performance, she remorsefully makes reference for the music they can be enjoying. “And you’ve been hearing this kind of ever since you left me, Clark simon? ” the girl asks. Clark simon calls the question “the gentlest and saddest of reproaches”. When states this she actually is almost envious of her nephew.

Her wistful remembrance and hoping is made obvious through her words. Finally, at the end in the concert, the girl bursts into tears and cries out “I don’t want to go Clark simon, I don’t want to go! ” This is an extremely direct and clear model that her longing for the background music she lost is awful and huge. However , Cousin Georgiana’s activities often speak volumes, and impart the insight into the theme than even her words can easily convey. Your woman had resided on a farm building away from civilization for three decades, and so the move back into the location was not an easy one. She actually is described as staying almost in a trance the moment she arrives.

Her express of being will not change over the story until she gets to the matinee and she “awakens”. That connects her back to the town she left so long ago is the music. When the live performance starts, this opens the flood entrances to her recollections. The very moment the initially note is played her hand darts out and clutches in Clark’s layer sleeve.

The girl does not relieve it until that track is has come to an end. After this first challenge she is able to calm herself somewhat, however the music nonetheless controls her, seeming to sweep her away to a different world. As the live performance continues, the lady fondly remembers her days and nights at the out house as she pantomimes the action of playing a piano onto her dress. Through these activities and others your woman demonstrates how dear to her the music that she forgotten is. Thus, Cather uses the characterization to illustrate the concept of the sacrifice.

The vivid physical description presented makes the pounds of Georgiana’s decision crystal clear. Georgiana’s terms also provide wonderful insight into how she feels. Roundabout expressions, which can be interpreted through her conscious and unconscious actions, are definitely the most sound representation of how the theme is exhibited through portrayal.

Aunt Georgiana is not a unique case, and even though she is an imagined character, eschew like hers are inevitably made daily. Sometimes you cannot find any middle surface, and no matter how great a love can be, it must be left behind for what is believed to be a greater good. The regret and pain which in turn accompany these sacrifices has to be dealt with simply by each individual.